Peterloo: 1819-2022 Enough is Enough: Democracy is more than the vote
There is a march and rally on Sunday afternoon backed by Oldham Trades Council in central Manchester*. On 16th August the Peterloo Memorial Campaign will gather at the Peterloo memorial from 5.30pm
We are approaching the 203rd anniversary of Peterloo. It was a protest about the right to vote but rather more than that. People were living in a system where they had no representation and no say. In addition but also centrally they struggled in many cases to afford enough to eat. Democracy became focused on the right to vote with the Chartists in the late 1830s but Peterloo was a much wider expression of what a democratic society should be. Its one we have still to achieve
In the Making of the English Working Class E P Thompson argued that the cost of living crisis was about wider issues than just that. He quoted a cotton spinner from 1818
The rise of a master class without traditional authority or obligations; the growing distance between master and man.. the loss of status and above all independence of the worker.. the partiality of the law, the discipline, monotony, hours and conditions of work, loss of leisure and amenities.
Thompson argued that for many it was also about justice, independence, family-economy. The demand for the vote was underwritten by wider concerns, a point echoed by George Monbiot.
George Monbiot 9th August 2022
It’s not a cost of living crisis so much as a rip-off crisis.
People are being ripped off by energy companies, ripped off by landlords, ripped off by a government that channels benefits to the rich while watching the poor slide into destitution.
*PETERLOO MARCH FOR DEMOCRACY The march will start from Piccadilly Gardens at 12:30 Main event starts at 1pm in St Peters Square Followed by Q & A on Democracy at the friends meeting house at 4pm Confirmed speakers include: SPEAKERS INCLUDE. JEREMY CORBYN KEN LOACH STELLA ASSANGE
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